Rahul Gandhi to visit Kerala

New Delhi: As part of his ongoing public outreach, Rahul Gandhi will take up the problems of fishing communities and rubber growers in Kerala on Wednesday.

After holding interactions with farmers, middle class flat buyers and ex-servicemen, Rahul will interact with fishermen at Chavakkad beach, a small coastal town in Thrissur district.

The same day he will be meeting representatives of rubber grower organisations in Aluva in Ernakulam district, a press release issued by the Congress Vice President’s Office said.

Rahul begins his Kerala visit from tomorrow when he will address a Pradesh Youth Congress rally in Kozhikode at a time when the Congress led UDF government in the state is hit by controversies and internal dissension. Assembly polls are due in the state next year.

Rahul is meeting various stakeholders ever since the end of his nearly two-month-long sabbatical and his arrival to the national capital on April 16.

After running a campaign in and outside Parliament against the Narendra Modi government on the land bill issue, he began his Kisan Yatra from Vidarbha on April 30 and carried on his interactions with farmers in Telangna last fortnight.

He also met a delegation of middle class flat buyers from the countrywide and the NCR region in particular on May 2.

On May 23, he met a delegation of ex-servicemen when he attacked the government over non-implementation of ‘one-rank-one-pension’ scheme and promised to “pressurise” the Centre to act on the issue at the earliest.

After Kerala, Rahul will visit Mhow in Madhya Pradesh on June 2 to launch Congress’ national celebrations of B R Ambedkar’s 125th birth anniversary.

Rahul’s Kerala visit is in line with his focus on positioning the Congress left of the Centre politics. An indication to it was available during budget session of Parliament.

In Parliament, Rahul accused the Modi government of going against the interests of fishermen in coastal states, saying a ban by the ‘suit-boot ki sarkar’ was not allowing them to do fishing but foreign trawlers were allowed to do so, a charge denied by the government.

Fishermen in Chavakkad were agitating against the Centre’s decision to extend trawling ban from 47 days to 61 days and from 12 nautical miles to 200 nautical miles of the Indian sea. The issue was raised in Parliament.

Congress-led UDF government in Kerala has said the state would not implement the Centre’s directive to impose uniform ban on trawling by all fishing vessels in coastal areas from June 1 to July 31 in the 12 nautical miles off state coast.

Besides, the plight of rubber growing farmers, has also been raised in Parliament a number of times.

A Congress leader said that crashing prices of the natural rubber would be a focal point of discussion during Rahul’s visit to the state.